The traffic is kind of slow so I thought I'd throw up a picture of something I've been working on while I'm waiting for my Solaris (production #4). I thought it might be useful to have a way to see what's connected to what in a preset. It might make it easier to see how other people's presets work, to answer questions like "What is LFO1 affecting?" So I started writing a program based on the info I could get from the user manual. Attached is a screenshot. The primary purpose was to show the structure of a preset; although I guess it's not all that far from being an editor I don't know whether an editor is even useful given the Solaris hardware UI.

I think this would be amazing. I often scratch my head figuring out what is modulating what, especially when the routing is complex (wheel to amount of the mixer mixing Lfo'so through lag processor modulating pitch, stuff like that).

And yes I agree traffic is slow. I post rarely but still post more then most. I guess mostly because there are relatively few solarisee out there and the crowd is not post savvy. Maybe because of higher age or busy lives (few young people are able afford one I guess). It's a shame though there are so many tips tricks and applications to share.

Actually, there’s been a fair amount of requests for a way to see exactly what’s going on in a Preset design, so it seems what you’ve outlined would be quite nice. Not sure how it would handle everything, but it would be good to be able to determine whether or not one needed to show something that wasn’t active in the Preset. I often tried to set any Oscillators I wasn’t using to the Off position (Osc Type = Off) for just this reason...your program would just ignore it in that case.

While this would work for Oscs or Filter types (and FX), you’d have to put a bit more intelligence to know how many of the EGs are being used, etc.

Yeah, modules don't need to be shown if they don't play a part in the sound. Also, modules can be collapsed so that only the rows with connections are shown. Modules and connecting wires can be added, removed, dragged, etc. I realize one could just print out a text list of what's active in a preset, but I guess I wanted to be more visual. (Plus, I confess I do have a secret desire to make a graphical editor anyway. )

John Bowen wrote:Not sure how it would handle everything, …

Well, everything in a preset file at least. I'm not sure what you're thing of specifically. I believe the sequencer and arp stuff is in separate files. I'll know more once I get the Solaris. Obviously VibratoLFO and EG6 are hardwired and so always active.

John Bowen wrote:While this would work for Oscs or Filter types (and FX), you’d have to put a bit more intelligence to know how many of the EGs are being used, etc.

They show up as a source somewhere like anything else. Connections are basically either by inputs, mod, or control.

Anyway, I'm interested in knowing from anyone what software, if any, might be useful with a Solaris. Btw, I happened to come across this thread.

I thought I would make this program available because people might at least have some fun with it as it is. Anyway, it’s free so you have nothing to lose. I named it Solarium (because I’ve never been that great at thinking up names for applications ).

It's only for Windows. Sorry, I wish I owned a Mac too but I don’t. It’s only one executable file and you don’t need to install anything. Just run the executable. There's also a PDF that includes some notes and I recommend you at least read the Quick Start section that has five steps. But if you’re allergic to even that much reading then just do this: Setup your MIDI connection in the MIDI/Setup menu. Then click the MIDI Recv button in the lower left to retrieve a preset from the Solaris. You should then see a nice graphical display of how things are connected in that preset.

But here’s my disclaimer: This is NOT a complete or finished program!! It’s very unfinished. Many things don’t work. Many things need for the Solaris MIDI implementation to get improved. See the included PDF. But I just thought that people might at least get some fun out of it anyway. And you might have some suggestions.

Thanks,

Jim H

P.S. I use the free version of AVG antivirus. So the program should have no virus that AVG can detect.

Last edited by minorguy on Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

koenig wrote:What language did you do this in? Do you think it would be feasible to port it to Mac? Since you explicitly state that you do not have a Mac the question is probably moot but it had to be asked...

It's written in C++ and uses the JUCE cross-platform GUI library so it should port to Mac. I suppose some programmer with a Mac could compile it. Just a couple of minor issues come to mind though. I'm never that thrilled about giving out source code for obvious reasons, but I guess I would if it's limited. Also, the person doing the build on Mac would have to do it repeatedly as bugs were fixed and changes made. Annoying for them.

koenig wrote:Oh, one feature request: the ability to read a preset from file, rather than from MIDI, please. Would make life so much easier for me, running the program in a virtual environment you see...

I was planning on that.

chapolin wrote:I tried it with wine under linux but it do not work.

There is an option to build it with better compatibility with Windows XP. So I’ve built this and put it at the same link above (Solarium_v0.1_ForWinXP.zip) . Try that. If it still doesn’t work then I don’t know.
One of these days I need to set up a Linux VM and get a bit familiar with it. I never seem to get around to it though.

koenig wrote:What language did you do this in? Do you think it would be feasible to port it to Mac? Since you explicitly state that you do not have a Mac the question is probably moot but it had to be asked...

It's written in C++ and uses the JUCE cross-platform GUI library so it should port to Mac. I suppose some programmer with a Mac could compile it. Just a couple of minor issues come to mind though. I'm never that thrilled about giving out source code for obvious reasons, but I guess I would if it's limited. Also, the person doing the build on Mac would have to do it repeatedly as bugs were fixed and changes made. Annoying for them.

Awesome work !

The obvious reasons are not obvious to me at least, since you don't seem to be planning to sell it, are you ? Open Source is the software world equivalent of the help we're giving each other here, so that sounds like a great fit.

Anyway it's your call, but I'd be very willing to give it a shot at compiling it on the Mac.